Kawhi Leonard, the Perfect Spur, ready for breakout season

SAN ANTONIO – Gregg Popovich has never been shy about lavishing praise on Kawhi Leonard.

And why not? He boasts so many of the traits the Spurs treasure — work ethic, humility, a complete and utter disinterest in anything that interferes with the task at hand — that Tim Duncan, the franchise’s long-time standard bearer for professionalism, almost comes off as Dennis Rodman in comparison.

If Duncan is a robot, then Leonard might as well have been genetically designed in a laboratory to play basketball specifically for them. Indeed, the Perfect Spur did nothing to dissuade that notion after describing his summer as little more than resting in between workouts.

Sample question from Monday’s media day: Did you do anything fun over the break?

Leonard: No.

Leonard also said, without even a trace of ego, that he wasn’t surprised at how well he played in the Finals, averaging a double-double over seven games while defending LeBron James about as well as humanly possible. Then again, Leonard may or may not be human.

If not surprised, almost everybody who witnessed his performance was hugely impressed, not least of which was his head coach. Popovich said at the start of last year’s training camp that Leonard was the future face of the franchise. On Monday he took it a step further, opening a book that’s been locked tight for more than a decade by admitting Leonard into the hallowed pantheon of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.

“Timmy and Manu have obviously figured out a way to play very well and be at the top of their games at their age,” Popovich said. “Tony Parker is still young enough to be the star that he is. But he’ll get older too. That’s where Kawhi comes in. He’s been phenomenal. He’s improved more quickly than any player we’ve ever had. His mindset is such that he wants to be great. He has all the reasons to be. We’ve got to put him a position to be a great player.”

Exactly what that means remains to be seen. The talk of last year’s training camp was Leonard’s development as a pick-and-roll player, a set that accounted for just eight percentage of his usage during the regular season according to Synergy Sports.

In typical Leonard fashion, he offered zero insight as to what new responsibilities he’s expecting to take on in his third NBA season. His goal, he said, is simply to “play harder and smarter on each possession.” What did he work on this summer to fulfill that aim? “Everything.”

At his best, Leonard looks something like this (minus the lopsided defeat, presumably):

But until his third season tips off, we won’t know if such moments — highlighted by that spectacular performance in the Finals — will remain isolated, or come more consistently as his teammates age and Popovich elevates arguably his favorite player from supporting actor to the starring role he’s been forecasting for more than a year.

Whatever Leonard does end up doing this season, he’ll at least have spent all summer, at the expense of even a sliver of fun, preparing for it.